Cambridge Man Arrested For Providing Gun Used In Murder Of MIT Officer

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BOSTON (CBS/AP) – A Cambridge man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of MIT Police officer Sean Collier.

Sources tell WBZ that Stephen Silva provided the gun, a 9mm Ruger, that was used to kill Collier after the Boston Marathon bombing.

Sean Collier

On Tuesday, Stephen Silva made an initial appearance in federal court on charges related to heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number. An attorney for Silva, Jonathan Shapiro, said Tuesday evening that he had received the case only a few hours earlier.

“According to news reports, law-enforcement officials say it is the same weapon that was used … in the MIT officer Sean Collier shooting. However, this has not been charged in the indictment,” Shapiro said.

“I am in the process of meeting with my client and reviewing the available evidence which will eventually be presented in a court of law in accordance with our system of justice,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Out of respect for that system and for my client, I cannot make any further comment on the case.”

Collier was allegedly shot to death by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev while he was on patrol in Cambridge three days after the marathon attack. Court documents accuse Silva of having the pistol in February 2013, two months before the bombing.

Silva went to Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School with Dzhokhar. Stephen Silva’s twin brother attended UMass Dartmouth and is also close with Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov who was convicted Monday of throwing out evidence in the case.

A friend and neighbor of Silva’s witnessed his arrest in Cambridge Monday night.

“They rolled up packed,” the man said. “There was like 15, 16 cars everywhere in the courtyard. I was in a meeting, I was on my home and then someone yelled ‘the feds are downstairs!’ I ran, I looked I saw them carrying big cases.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police in Watertown. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaped, but was found later that day hiding in a boat. He has pleaded not guilty in the bombing.